Covid-19: Omicron now the dominant strain in Mozambique

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Covid-19: Omicron now the dominant strain in Mozambique

5:20 CAT | 03 Jan 2022

Image: Deccan Herald

The Omicron variant is now the dominant strain in Mozambique of the coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease, according to a study by the National Health Institute (INS) released on Sunday.

In order to monitor the circulation of variants of the virus, the INS has set up a SARS-Cov-2 (the scientific name for the virus) national surveillance network, known as SEGENA. The INS says that, between July 2020 and December 2021, 942 genomes of SARS-Cov-2 were analysed, using samples from all 11 provinces.

The study showed that the Beta variant, first detected in Mozambique in July 2020, dominated the Mozambican epidemic between January and May 2021. The Delta variant was detected in April 2021, and became the dominant strain between June and August. But it has now been displaced by the Omicron variant, first detected in November.

“The Beta and Delta variants were detected in Maputo and Tete respectively, and then spread throughout the country”, the INS said. Omicron was also first detected in Maputo, but is now known to be circulating in the northern province of Nampula, the central province of Zambezia and the southern province of Inhambane.

According to the latest press release from the Ministry of Health, since the start of the pandemic 1,106,794 people have been tested for the coronavirus, 1,865 of them in the previous 24 hours.

1,134 of these tests yielded negative results, while 731 people tested positive for the virus. This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases diagnosed in Mozambique to 192,453.

406 of the new cases identified on Sunday were women, and 322 were men. In three cases, the sex was not reported. 90 cases were children under the age of 15,

The current surge in cases remains dominated by Maputo city and Maputo province, with 201 and 165 cases respectively. There were also 121 cases in Nampula, 99 in Sofala, 35 in Inhambane, 31 in Gaza, 26 in Niassa, 18 in Zambezia, 18 in Cabo Delgado, 15 in Tete, and just two in Manica.

The positivity rate (the percentage of those tested found to be carrying the virus) fell from 43.98 per cent on Saturday to 39.2 per cent on Sunday.

Over the same 24 hour period, 26 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital (17 from Maputo, four from Inhambane, three from Manica and two from Niassa), and 42 new cases were admitted (16 in Maputo, seven in Manica, seven in Inhambane, three each in Matola, Zambezia and Niassa, two in Gaza and one in Tete).

The number of people under medical care in the Covid-19 treatment centres rose from 184 on Saturday to 193 on Sunday. 121 of these patients (62.7 per cent) were in Maputo. There were also 14 patients in Sofala, 12 in Matola, 12 in Inhambane, 11 in Manica, eight in Zambezia, six in Niassa, five in Gaza, three in Cabo Delgado, and one in Tete. Nampula was the only province where no Covid-19 patients were hospitalised.

The Health Ministry reported a further seven deaths from Covid-19. These victims were four men and three women aged between 21 and 83. Six of them died in Maputo city and one in Gaza. This brought the total Covid-19 death toll in Mozambique to 2,019.

608 people were declared to have made a full recovery from Covid-19 (257 in Gaza, 254 in Inhambane, 61 in Nampula and 36 in Zambezia). The total number of recoveries now stands at 157,184, which is 81.7 per cent of all those ever diagnosed with Covid-19 in Mozambique.

The number of active cases of Covid-19 rose from 33,130 on Saturday to 33,246 on Sunday. The geographical break down of the active cases was as follows: Maputo city, 8,421 (25.3 per cent of the total); Maputo province, 7,484; Inhambane, 3,572; Gaza, 3,488; Manica, 2,567; Sofala, 2,558; Cabo Delgado, 1,597; Nampula, 1,295; Zambezia, 1,104; Tete, 720; and Niassa, 441.

After a break for the New Year holiday, the National Vaccination Campaign against Covid-19 is due to resume on Monday. The Health Ministry urged all citizens over 18 years of age, who have not yet been vaccinated, to make their way to the nearest vaccination post.

Source: AIM